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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24662347">Stories of Gems</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LockandKeyHyena/pseuds/LockandKeyHyena'>LockandKeyHyena</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Gen, Multi, Non-Linear Narrative, Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:43:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,570</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24662347</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LockandKeyHyena/pseuds/LockandKeyHyena</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of unrelated (most of the time) stories featuring gems, because the show did us dirty in not exploring gem and homeworld culture more! Sooo, here we go- this will be updated fairly sporadically and whenever I feel like writing.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Forest Green Pearl</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Era 1 was different, better, if you ask the gems old enough to remember it. Better, that’s what everyone says, what the diamonds say, ‘we can be great again’ they say.<br/>
Not the pearls. </p><p>Obviously they don’t speak these treacherous thoughts aloud, for fear of punishment, but the war changed everything- for better and worse.<br/>
For one, the rebellion left homeworld low on resources, meaning that gems were no longer as expendable as they once were.<br/>
Lower ranking gems could afford to step out of line here and there with nothing more than some berating by their superior before returning to work.</p><p>However, homeworld became much more paranoid about traitors and insurgents, leading to much tighter restrictions and, eventually- new ways to stop gems from stepping out of line.</p><p>Rejuvenation.</p><p>Pearl was terrified. She hadn’t done anything wrong. It was an accident, she had been carrying a very expensive vase, she had been so careful- it wasn’t her fault that pebbles were so easy to trip over.<br/>
Still, she couldn’t help but feel bad not just for herself, but for the pebble, she was lucky enough to belong to a high-ranking emerald, but a pebble? Even with limited resources they were expendable. She had been shattered instantly.</p><p>Really she should be feeling lucky that she was merely being sent to the reef and not a harvesting plant.<br/>
But still, it made her feel hollow inside that she was going to lose a part of herself. Stars, maybe this wasn’t even her first trip here.</p><p>“Hello, Emerald Facet-3 Cut-234, what do you wish to do here today?”</p><p>Shell’s voice was unsettlingly calm, other pearls who had visited the reef for a remodel had told Pearl that the A.I. creeped them out. She now understood why.</p><p>As her emerald discussed rejuvenation and stylistic options, Pearl found herself looking around. Had she been anywhere else she would not risk it, but being that she was about to be reprogrammed, Pearl felt she may as well.<br/>
The large domed entrance hall had glowing paths leading to different sections of the reef, she assumed she would be taken immediately to the rejuvenation chamber.</p><p>There were a few other gems milling around, most of them high-ranking, all of them with pearls. A particular pair that caught her eye was a nephrite and her pearl.<br/>
To any other gem that gave them a passing glance they would appear normal, but to another pearl they were having a full on conversation.<br/>
A flicker of the eyelids here, a small motion with the hands there.<br/>
<em>They’re discussing the gems here. </em>She realised,<em> just like friends.</em><br/>
The pearl must’ve caught her staring, because they quickly stopped conversing and moved into one of the rooms.</p><p>“Pearl!”<br/>
Her emerald’s irritated voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “Hurry up,” she hissed, “this is why we’re here!” She said, to no-one in particular.<br/>
Pearl quickly followed her master, keeping her head low, she didn’t want to invoke more of Emerald’s wrath.</p><p>As Pearl stood in the shell, trying to seem stoic despite the searing pain clutching her body, the last thought she had before dissipating her form was,<em> I hope I do better this time.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Olive Peridot</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>No no no no no.<br/>
The Diamonds were about to launch their attack, and Peridot was stuck. The evacuation alarms had sounded but she had been too preoccupied with saving as much data as she could.<br/>
The door had jammed again. It had only been a mild annoyance before, but now Peridot cursed the Bismuth that designed this place- even though she knew it was her own laziness with upkeep that was its failure.</p>
<p>The door was so tantalisingly close to being able to let her slip through. Maybe if she ditched the limb enhancers? No, she’d still need the coveted shapeshifting ability that gems of her cut lacked.<br/>
This was not the first time she cursed her luck to be created in Era 2.</p>
<p>She screamed in frustration and panic as she detached one of her limb enhancers and threw it at the half-open door.<br/>
Just as she was about to give up and accept the fact that her gem was about to be shattered into a million tiny pieces, the door budged.</p>
<p><em>What? </em><br/>
She hadn’t touched it. Was someone out there? No response, of course. She had been stupid to think anyone would still be hanging around.<br/>
<em>Ugh, stupid door! </em></p>
<p>She turned away, waving her hand at the door in dismissal. But then it budged again.<br/>
Was she doing that? Peridots lacked any powers due to the lack of resources in Era 2, but maybe there was something that had slipped under the radar?<br/>
That didn’t matter at the moment, the door had opened just enough for her to get through.</p>
<p>Peridot detached her limb enhancers (better techless than dead), and squeezed through the door.<br/>
Just as she stepped out, the sky lit up.</p>
<p>No! She was too late, the attack was just beginning- maybe if she could just reach the warp she could-</p>
<p>Everything was White.<br/>
And Yellow.<br/>
And Blue.</p>
<p>
  <em>..and Pink?</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Midnight Lapis Lazuli and Navy Blue Pearl</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lapis had always found Pearls pretty. From the way they moved to their songbird-like voices, she often found herself tweaking her form in the reflection of nearby water, making her nose slightly more pointy, her form slightly more petite.</p>
<p>Of course the other Lapis’ in her wing called her delusional, that Pearls were just some pretty playthings to stand around and look nice. <br/><em>They </em>had a proper job- terraforming planets for the empire.</p>
<p>There was actually a Lapis in the wing that was coveted enough to have been gifted a Pearl by Blue Diamond herself, a true honour, but she mostly kept to herself and left her Pearl in her quarters.<br/>Lapis thought it was a shame, after all if Pearls were meant for anything, it was most certainly for showing off.</p>
<p>Sometimes when the rest of her wing was off on a terraforming job that she wasn’t needed on, she would sneak into the other Lapis’ quarters and just look at the Pearl.<br/>She was gorgeous, a perfect replication of her master’s specific shade of blue and the way her hair was tucked back in a certain way.<br/>Lapis would sometimes practice shapeshifting, trying to mimic the Pearl’s form as best she could. Most days she just sat and watched.</p>
<p>Then one day the Pearl talked. <br/>This would not have been unusual if she had been any other cut of gem, but this was a Pearl- they were not even supposed to be able to speak unless spoken to.</p>
<p>“Why do you keep coming here?” She asked, her voice as dainty and delicate as any pearl. Lapis had been too shocked to answer immediately, stuttering a weak, half-formed excuse.<br/>And she laughed.<br/>It sounded like bells in the wind. Lapis was so transfixed by the beauty of the sound that it didn’t fully register what the Pearl had done.<br/>She had initiated conversation with a gem legions above her in rank, and then laughed in her face. She could be shattered for this.</p>
<p>The pearl knew this- that much was clear, but there was something else in her expression, certainty.<br/>No words needed to be exchanged between each other, they both knew that Lapis wasn’t going to turn her in.</p>
<p>And so, their conversations grew. Pearl had taken to calling Lapis ‘my heart’ for her gem placement. Lapis had many pet names for pearl, but always gravitated back to ‘my pearl’.<br/>This was extremely treacherous for the both of them, touching, let alone speaking between the castes was strictly forbidden- never mind that Lapis didn’t even own Pearl.</p>
<p>But, for both of them, it made them happy.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Plum Pearl</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Pearl blinked. It had been cycles since she had been abandoned here. Twenty three thousand, six hundred hundred and thirty two to be precise. She liked being precise, it gave her a sense of normality.</p>
<p>It had taken her several thousand cycles for her to even move from her spot. Pearls weren’t supposed to move without orders.<br/>Only once it sunk in that they weren’t coming back from her did she dare begin to wander the abandoned moon base.<br/>Although the planet on which the moon orbited had been devoid of any life since the injectors had sucked as much of it as they could from the core to supply more amethyst soldiers for wars of which Pearl was unaware- the several moons orbiting the barren rock sported an array of exotic flora and fauna.</p>
<p>Pearl was an older model, she was aware of that- and assumed that’s why her Morganite had left her behind, it was much easier to forget about a Pearl than go through the tiresome homeworld procedure to shatter it.<br/>Pearl was grateful for this.</p>
<p>During her wait Pearl had noticed the plants and animals surrounding her. Standing in the control room and occupying herself by counting the seconds, Pearl had noticed nature slowly reclaiming the building. Vines carefully snaking their way across the control panels and small furry creatures trying to nibble at her form.<br/>Pearl liked the company.</p>
<p>When she finally accepted that they weren’t coming back for her, she slowly untangled the nest of small feathered <em>somethings</em> from her messy bun and gently placed them on a ledge safely out of any predators way.</p>
<p>She walked through the once-empty and now brimming with life halls, and smiled.</p>
  </div></div>
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